Timmendorf: Fears for the humpback whale

A humpback whale has beached itself on the Baltic coast in the Bay of Lübeck. The animal was discovered on Monday night (23 March 2026) in the Niendorf district of the municipality of Timmendorfer Strand, according to the police. According to media reports, the animal may be the humpback whale that has recently been spotted several times in the Baltic Sea off the German coast - including near Wismar and in the Bay of Lübeck.

Dramatic rescue attempts on Monday

According to the report, the humpback whale was spotted off Niendorf at around 1.50 am. The whale was discovered during the night after a nearby hotel reported unusual noises. Since then, the stretch of beach in Niendorf in the municipality of Timmendorfer Strand has been cordoned off over a large area. The police and fire brigade have been in constant operation, supported by experts from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW), the German Marine Foundation and a team from the marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd. Schleswig-Holstein's Environment Minister Tobias Goldschmidt also visited the site to assess the situation.

Helpers tried from midday until late at night to bring the whale into deeper water - without success. Police boats, inflatable boats, fire brigade drones and experts from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in Büsum were deployed.

Attempt in the afternoon: whale turns briefly - then back

Experts from the ITAW inspected the animal in the afternoon. They are said to have approached the whale together with the fire brigade using inflatable boats. The whale turned its snout towards the open bay. This was an important step in bringing it back into the water.

But shortly afterwards, strong waves are said to have come up. They whipped against the animal and pushed it a little further onto the sandbank. Coastguard boats then travelled at high speed about 150 metres away from the whale. They are said to have tried to create waves in this way so that the animal, which was resting on the sandbank with its chest and stomach, could swim free. But this was also unsuccessful. Towing the whale, which weighs several tonnes, is not an option; the risk of injury is too great.

Rescue attempt aborted

"In order not to stress the animal any further, we have cancelled this and the whale should now recover a little," explained Stephanie Groß, an expert at the ITAW, early on Monday evening. However, they don't want to give up hope and will try again at a later date. If that doesn't work, there is still the flood around midnight. "Maybe it will be able to free itself again then." The whale was indeed able to make its way towards the shipping channel during the night. However, it returned to the sandbank.

Condition of the animal causes concern

The situation is critical. According to the rescuers, the animal's condition is deteriorating by the hour. Deep, muffled sounds can be heard again and again. The whale appears significantly weakened, raising and lowering its massive body only slowly as it breathes. "The humpback whale's skin doesn't look very good," explained Groß. The whale could be sick, injured or exhausted. But it is also possible that the animal was simply unfortunate enough to end up in shallow water. It is also conceivable that underwater noise has affected its orientation. Nevertheless, it is worth trying to free the animal if possible. Experience has shown that this could take days. According to forecasts, however, strong westerly winds are already causing the water level to drop by up to 30 centimetres today and by as much as 60 centimetres by Thursday, which is likely to make a rescue much more difficult.

In order not to expose the whale to unnecessary stress, the police have cordoned off the stretch of beach and the area around Niendorf harbour. The authorities are urgently appealing to onlookers not to approach the animal on land, at sea or from the air, for example with drones.

A young bull whale on the move

"We're pretty sure it's a humpback whale because we've now seen the animal in its entirety," says Sea Shepherd spokesman Sven Biertümpfel. It is probably a young bull whale because, unlike cows, males are on the move. The Baltic Sea is not a natural habitat for humpback whales, as the salt content in the water is too low.

It is suspected that the whale is the same animal that has been spotted repeatedly in the Baltic Sea for some time. It was first discovered in Wismar harbour at the beginning of the month. At that time, emergency services had largely freed the whale from a net in which it had previously become entangled.

Last Friday, the same whale off Travemünde was freed from further net remnants by the marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd, as the organisation had announced. "We were actually able to remove part of the line with our special tool," said Christin Otto from Sea Shepherd. The remaining lines were removed by the Niendorf fire brigade on Monday.

Whale sightings in the Baltic Sea are increasing

The stranding of the humpback whale is not the only notable whale sighting in the Baltic Sea in recent times. In the A large marine mammal lost its way in April 2024 to Kiel and Glückstadt. In the Øresund, the strait between Denmark and Sweden A humpback whale was also filmed on 8 September 2024. Also in the Flensburg Fjord two humpback whales caused quite a stir on Friday, 8 September 2024. They even strayed into the Glücksburg marina, where sailing instructor Jan Philip Leon from the Hanseatic Yacht School Glücksburg filmed the impressive scene. Experts estimated that it was a juvenile with its mother, with the larger animal being over ten metres long. In April last year a humpback whale was found off Hiddensee spotted by an angler.

According to a survey by the German Foundation for Marine Conservation, belugas, narwhals and minke whales have also been spotted in the Baltic Sea in recent decades. The last sighting was on 4 January a fin whale in the Flensburg Fjord in the Mürwik area by an official boat. The whale is estimated to be around 17 metres in size.

Why do whales come to the Baltic Sea?

The Baltic Sea is not a natural habitat for humpback whales. The salt content in the water is too low and can damage the animals' skin. In addition, there is not enough food for the marine giants - there is a lack of sufficient krill and schooling fish. In their search for food, the whales can become severely emaciated and suffer from malnutrition. Added to this are the dangers posed by dense shipping traffic, fishing nets and underwater noise.

Why the animals still find their way into the inland sea is unclear. The most likely explanation is that the animals follow shoals of fish that enter the Baltic Sea from the North Sea. Dr Jan Dierking from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research explained to the German Marine Foundation that "smaller inflows from the North Sea with good short-term food availability" can attract the marine mammals.

In spring, humpback whales usually migrate from their wintering grounds in the south to their feeding grounds in the far north. Individual animals may get lost and end up in the Baltic Sea. Young male whales in particular, which are out exploring, can go off course.

It is therefore not only uncertain whether the humpback whale can be rescued from its acute plight. Even after that, its chances of survival would be rather slim.

In case of sighting: please report

The German Oceanographic Museum asks for reportswhenever skippers encounter marine mammals - including smaller harbour porpoises or seals - and to take as many photos as possible. Both can provide valuable data for researchers and improve our understanding of the movements of marine animals. If you want to know where harbour porpoises, bottlenose dolphins and the like prefer to hang out, you can take a look at the Sighting map of the Oceanographic Museum.